?When time comes, Sachin will leave on his own?

RAJYA SABHA MP and BCCI media cell incharge Rajiv Shukla said that the BCCI had formed a committee to recommend whether the national selection committee should be formed with professionals or whether the on going zonal representation system should continue.

Shukla, addressing a meet the press programme at the Indore Press Club today said that there were pros and cons of both the sides, and it was up to the committee to make the call.

Asked where former BCCI chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya was being hounded by the present BCCI office-bearers, Shukla denied anyone was being victimised and said that the charges had been levelled against Dalmiya only because some discrepancy had been noticed in the BCCI accounts.

On the lack of cohesion within the Indian team, Shukla made light of the charges and said that too much was being read into small things, which were then blown out of proportion by the electronic media. “How can anyone say what Ganguly, Dravid and Chappell were discussing when they were 50 feet away,” he asked while giving example of things being blown out of proportion.

Fielding a question about the future prospect of Saurav Ganguly, Shukla said that there was a lot of cricket left in him, and the selection committee had never said that Ganguly would never be selected.

On Sachin’s repeated failures, he said Sachin was the backbone of the team and contributed not only with the bat but acted as a friend and philosopher to the captain and also the youngsters. He said we should stop criticising Sachin, and added, “when the time comes, Sachin will leave on his own.”

On the issue of sting operation, Shukla said that only journalists should be allowed to do sting operation and spoke strongly against the practice of purchasing ‘sting’ operation from the market, which might have been done by private detectives or other unscrupulous elements out to blackmail people.

Quizzed on journalists joining politics, he said that there was no harm in it, provided it was out in the open like him. “Unfortunately, there are many who wear the garb of a journalist but work for a particular party under their own hidden agenda,” he said, and strongly condemned this tendency.

His wife Anuradha who together with Shukla runs a television content company was also present on the occasion. Fielding questions on why soap operas like “Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi,” and not stories based on good literature dominated television, she said that it was simply not possible to fill the entire television programming with programmes and serials based on good literature.

Moreover, with 54 per cent of the country comprising youth, it was imperative to cater to their needs also.